Formula 1 : 2016 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka

This is a discussion on Formula 1 : 2016 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka within Int'l Motorsport, part of the Motor-Sports category; Grid drops for Raikkonen (5 places) and Button (35 places)
Raikkonen will drop from third to eighth thanks to a ...

Raikkonen will drop from third to eighth thanks to a five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

Meanwhile, Button - who qualified 17th - will start from the back of the grid for McLaren partner Honda’s home race, after they took the strategic decision to give the Briton a fresh engine, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, Energy Store and Control Electronics. All components are Button’s sixth of the season, exceeding his allocation, hence incurring a total penalty of 35 grid places.

It will be an entertaining race if Verstappen does not decide to push Kimi off the track and race properly.

Now its just the Mercs and Red Bulls in the front two rows. If the Red Bulls get a good start, they can possibly hound the Mercedes cars through the technical first sector, particularly as Mercedes have said they have turned down their engines slightly due to Hamilton's failure at Malaysia.

Rosberg clinches his first victory at Suzuka, to extend his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 33 points.

Hamilton faced a drive to recover third, having dropped to 8th with a poor start.

Good racing by Ferrari undone by questionable strategy.

A rare race with all 22 cars completing it, no retirements, and no safety cars or virtual safety cars.

Hulkenberg with the best radio message of the race (maybe season) with a "See you later" upon executing a brilliant overtake on Bottas at the chicane.

The race featured some robust defending by Verstappen against Hamilton to keep the second place near the end, and will no doubt reopen discussions about the former's defending tactics. Mercedes have lodged a protest with the stewards regarding this move. Max finished less than a second ahead of Hamilton, so any timed penalty (if awarded) will cost him second place. However, no decision will be taken until the US GP weekend a fortnight later.

Despite qualifying in the top 10, Haas earn no points in the race.

Toro Rosso follow up their poor qualifying with no points in the race.

Worst finishing position for McLaren this season, with 16th and 18th for Alonso and Button respectively.

Race Result

World Constructors' Championship

Mercedes clinch their third successive Constructors' Championship in this turbo era.

Ferrari a clean 50 points adrift of Red Bull, with just 4 races to go.

Force India extend their gap over Williams.

The top 5 teams in the championship all scored points today.

World Drivers' Championship

With 4 races remaining, if Rosberg finishes second in 3 races and third in 1 race, he'll take the championship.

Hamilton has his work cut out if he wants to take back the lead.

Max Verstappen catches up to Sebastian on points and is just 5 points away from Kimi.

I'm having serious doubts about Ferrari strategy. Do their rivals pay Ferrari Strategists ? After the 1st round of pit stops, Kimi who was ahead of both Riccardo & Hamilton was behind both. After the 2nd round of Pit Stops, Vettel who was on the tail of Max was behind Hamilton who was nowhere in the picture before. The icing on the cake was the soft tyres vettel was sent out with & told to overtake Hamilton.

If I was a Ferrari driver, I would be at my wit's end as Ferrari have this uncanny habit of negating any gains made by the driver and then asking him to race the competition & overtake other drivers again on the track while other teams can simply take a jump on Ferrari with just a pit stop. Ferrari doesn't know when to pit (like today) and when not to pit (Singapore GP). They should learn from Mercedes, who didn't pit in Singapore & made Nico victorious while today by pitting at the right time they recovered 5 places & got Hamilton on podium who was 8th at the end of first lap. Ferrari should have got Vettel a 2nd place & a 4th at least for Kimi. If this continues Ferrari has no future in F1 as their package is not a match for Mercedes & their strategy takes care of the rest. They should look elsewhere instead of making a fool of themselves week after week.

The race featured some robust defending by Verstappen against Hamilton to keep the second place near the end, and will no doubt reopen discussions about the former's defending tactics. Mercedes have lodged a protest with the stewards regarding this move. Max finished less than a second ahead of Hamilton, so any timed penalty (if awarded) will cost him second place. However, no decision will be taken until the US GP weekend a fortnight later.

Mercedes Drop Protest Against Verstappen's Defence
Mercedes have dropped the protest against Verstappen's defending, with Hamilton stating he didn't support it in the first place. You can view a replay of the overtake attempt and Verstappen's defence here: http://www.formula1.com/en/latest/he...s-driving.html

Mercedes Clinch Third Successive World Drivers Championship Too!

Here's a fun fact: not only have Mercedes won the World Constructors Championship (WCC) this weekend, Mercedes have also won the World Drivers Championship (WDC) this weekend. With Rosberg and Hamilton on 313 and 280 points respectively, and the next driver being Ricciardo on 212 points, Ricciardo is 101 points behind Nico Rosberg, but there are only 100 points to offer a single driver over the course of the remaining 4 races.

Therefore, it will be a Mercedes driver who is the 2016 WDC. Which driver? Mercedes don't care.

With 4 races remaining, if Rosberg finishes second in 3 races and third in 1 race, he'll take the championship.

My vote is for Rosberg. For this season it's Rosberg who seems to have the mental make-up of a Championship driver.

http://www.planetf1.com/news/vettel-...ari-extension/ - Perhaps Maurizio Arrivabene should stop pointing fingers at his drivers and look at himself first. Though it was doubtful whether Vettel would have been able to fend off a charging Hamilton, sending him out with a tyre that was competitive for just one lap looked a strategic blunder more than anything.

That is interesting. Ferrari is brutal with their drivers. They let go Schumacher for Kimi and Massa for not performing. If Vettel is asked to leave, he would only have McLaren or Mercedes options. It really is difficult to be a top driver and switch teams.